One of the most familiar stories of the Bible is that of Noah and the Flood. It is a story that also finds a lot of skepticism. It’s unbelievable, they say because of the number of animals needed on the ark, the improbability of a world-wide flood that covered the mountains, and the lack of technology to build a flood-surviving boat available to men at this time in history. 

First, not every single variant of species would be needed to repopulate the earth, just a representative of every species. Within each species is a God-given ability to adapt to various environments and ecosystems. Each species would be able to produce numerous sub-species; thus, the number of animals would be greatly reduced.

Second, calling a world-wide flood improbable doesn’t make it impossible. Clearly the Bible describes flooding agents that we don’t have around today — windows of the sky which opened and springs under the earth which broke upward. Moreover, it is likely that at least some of the mountain ranges, continents, etc. may have been significantly different in a pre-flood world. 

Third, we have no idea what kind of technology was available in a pre-flood world. Archaeology continues to uncover products that even modern technology cannot produce (e.g., the pyramids, crystal skulls, metallurgical products, and batteries found in Babylon). 

But is there any positive evidence of Noah’s flood? Some look for Noah’s actual ark, but that is unlikely to be discovered. But there is something that many have often overlooked, the numerous versions of a world-wide flood found in cultures around the world. Robert Schock notes that there are at least 500 flood myths.

“Narratives of a massive inundation are found all over the world…Stories of a great deluge are found on every inhabited continent and among a great many different language and culture groups.” (Schoch, Robert M. (2003), Voyages of the Pyramid Builders (New York: Jeremy P. Parcher/Putnam), pp. 103 and 249). 

Noah-like stories are found in Babylon, Syria, Persia, India, Norway, China, Mexico, Egypt, Wales, Ireland, Indonesia, Romania, etc. One tribe of American Indians (the Toltecs) relate a story so similar to the Noahic flood that it even includes a story similar to the Biblical story of Babel and the confusion of the languages of the world.

Among the Nosu in China a man named Dum heeded the warning of God of an impending flood and entered a wooden boat and was saved. The three sons of Dum repopulated the rest of the world. In fact, the Chinese pictogram for boat is composed of figures that may well tell the story of Noah’s flood. 

On and on the similar stories could be cited from civilizations and cultures around the world, based on cultural memory of a world-wide catastrophe coming from well before the book of Genesis was written. Such memories will naturally be remembered some details altered and others absent, but once the cultural trappings are eliminated from the kernel of truth there is tremendous agreement…

• • • There was a world-wide flood that destroyed all but a handful of the human race and all air breathing creatures.
    • A great boat saved the survivors
    • All of modern mankind and the animal kingdom came from these survivors

The similarities are remarkable. Even William Wundt, who was no friend of faith or the Bible, wrote in Elements of Folk Psychology, 

“Of the combination of all these elements into a whole (the destruction of the earth by water, the rescue of a single man and seed of animals by means of a boat, etc.), however, we may say without hesitation, it could not have arisen twice independently” (1916, p. 392).

The conclusion seems obvious. The world-wide flood of Noah really did occur, and is told in various forms among peoples around the world. Since it did, it makes for some other really interesting suggestions…

• • • The earth and the universe is much younger than modern science believes 
    • The layers of the earth are the marks of the great flood
    • The fossil record is not from millions and billions of years ago, but is further evidence of a great flood
    • Sin does matter to God and He is willing to judge men’s deeds
    • The Bible is telling the truth here and elsewhere about its miracles, prophecies, and spiritual reality.